Who Is This New We? Similarities and Differences of Ethnic, Religious, and National Identity among the Albanian Majority and the Serb Minority in Post-Conflict Kosovo

This chapter on Kosovo offers a description of how Albanians and Serbs shape their social identities after conflict. Analyzing the construction of ethnic identities historically, it draws on social psychological literature to describe how identity content is negotiated now in light of Kosovo’s declaration of independence. For both groups, ethnic identity remains a central identity: perceived as primordial and heavily impeding intergroup relations. It overlaps with religious identity, although the relation is stronger for Serbs, for whom religion is as unchangeable as ethnic identity. New national identity differs in meaning: it conflates with ethnic identity for Albanians, while perceived as threatening to ethnic identity for Serbs. The chapter concludes by exploring the potential that Kosovar identity holds in reconciling these differences